Hi, I would like to ask your advice.

I had a "Brave sentry" attack yesterday, I looked up on the net (from another PC) to find out about "smitFraudFix", but it seems like the infected PC is too far gone, I can't download S.F.F, I can't access safe mode, the firewall is de-activated.

I think I will have to wipe & re-install the whole system now, so I was wondering what preventative measures can be taken for the future. I read that disabling "install on demand" is a good idea, I wonder what other advice might be given? What are good anti-virus & anti malware programs? What other defensive measures can be taken?

hello and welcome to bleepingcomputer

Here are some good anti-virus and anti-malware programs that I prefer and that you might want to download:

Anti-virus:AVG antivirus
Anti-spyware:superantispyware
Anti-spyware:spywareblaster
It's always good to have more than one anti-spyware so if one misses a spyware the other one may catch it
Ad-aware:AD-aware
also if you want another firewall besides windows firewall you can download comodo firewall: comodo firewall

Please folllow the instructions in the BC tutorial How to remove Brave Sentry

Follow this with another tutorial ..How To Remove Vundo/Winfixer Infection
After running VundoFix, a text file named vundofix.txt will have automatically been saved to the root of the system drive, usually at C:\vundofix.txt. Please copy & paste the contents of that text file into your next reply.

Then run this scan and also post the log

Please download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and save it to your desktop.
alternate download link 1
alternate download link 2

• Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
• Double-click on Download_mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
• When the installation begins, follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
• When installation has finished, make sure you leave both of these checked:
  • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• Then click Finish.
• MBAM will automatically start and you will be asked to update the program before performing a scan. If an update is found, the program will automatically update itself. Press the OK button to close that box and continue. If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download them from here and just double-click on mbam-rules.exe to install.
• On the Scanner tab:
  • Make sure the "Perform Quick Acan" option is selected.
  • Then click on the Scan button.
• If asked to select the drives to scan, leave all the drives selected and click on the Start Scan button.
• The scan will begin and "Scan in progress" will show at the top. It may take some time to complete so please be patient.
• When the scan is finished, a message box will say "The scan completed successfully. Click 'Show Results' to display all objects found".
• Click OK to close the message box and continue with the removal process.
• Back at the main Scanner screen, click on the Show Results button to see a list of any malware that was found.
• Make sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
• When removal is completed, a log report will open in Notepad and you may be prompted to restart your computer. (see Note below)
• The log is automatically saved and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
• Copy and paste the contents of that report in your next reply and exit MBAM.

Note: If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove, you will be presented with 1 of 2 prompts. Click OK to either and let MBAM proceed with the disinfection process. If asked to restart the computer, please do so immediately. Failure to reboot will prevent MBAM from removing all the malware.

if you still require it, I think you may find this link more appropriate for accessing the download for avg 7.5 antivirus program

AVG 7.5 antivirus program

one assumes you are running a computer with XP? as ( as some of us discoverd to our annoyance)adaware 2007 is NOT compatible with older windows versions